


under the sea

by dreamtowns



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Prince!Prompto, mentions of human sacrifice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-27 16:29:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20049082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamtowns/pseuds/dreamtowns
Summary: “Loqi—no!”But it’s too late. Loqi speeds around the corner, long tail propelling him forward, right into the throne room, and all but shrieks, “Prompto kissed a human!”Why couldn’t Prompto be an only child? Honestly.





	under the sea

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Final Fantasy XV. All rights reserved to its developers: Square Enix. All that is mine is the plot of this story in particular and any original characters introduced. No copyright infringement intended. No money is being made from this work. This is purely for entertainment purposes.
> 
> sorry for any spelling/grammar errors!

On the eve of Prompto’s fifteenth year, he witnesses a shipwreck. It’s a bad one, even he knows, but the humans escape on a small boat—except for one, that is. Prompto knows he should go back to the castle, because he’s missing his birthday celebration, and the King has most definitely sent the guards to come find him, but he hesitates.

And saves the drowning human. A boy, looking to be around Prompto’s age.

He should leave. Celebrate his birthday. Dance with his siblings. He stays. The boy wakes up, and Prompto never knew blue eyes could be so . . . pretty.

“What’s your name?” Prompto asks, but he’s really not supposed to talk to humans. Not supposed to let them know that he is fluent in their tongue.

“Noctis,” the boy croaks, and then there are echoing voices in the distance. Other humans. Bigger ones. Prompto escapes before they see him, but he leaves a seashell necklace behind and a promise to return. Noctis is wearing it when they meet the next day.

It’s history after that.

Everything about Noctis is pretty. He’s an orphan living in a small fishing village—and that’s what boat he was on, for fisherman. The adults wanted him to learn a trade, earn his keep. It makes Prompto frown. Didn’t he have time to play? To nap? Were all adult humans that rough with those younger?

Noctis only smiles at his questions with a that distant, numb look in his eyes.

Prompto knows he’s going to get caught—Ignis and Gladio are questioning him about his long absences, and they’ve even tried tailing after him a few times (but no one is as fast as Prompto is when he doesn’t want to get caught), and there’s only so many times Prompto can say he’s observing the underwater ruins before someone’s patience runs out—and there’s going to be trouble. if there’s anything Prompto dislikes, it’s trouble.

But Noctis is nothing like Prompto has ever known. He’s not like the stories of humans Prompto’s been fed his entire life—he’s so soft, and kind, and he hates vegetables (whatever that was), and he never looks annoyed at Prompto’s persistent questions.

Prompto doesn’t like the older villages much. Their hands leave imprints and echoes on Noctis’ porcelain skin. Their voice, sharp and demeaning and loud, echo down the cliffside and grate his ears as he waits for Noctis to finish his work. But they don’t really talk about it much—it makes Noctis look far, far sadder than Prompto ever wants him to be.

The kiss is sort of an accident—okay, no, it isn’t.

Noctis is talking about the catch he and some fisherman named Navyth had pulled in before sunrise, hands moving as he spoke and regaled Prompto of the exploits. “—the whole village was so impressed by its’ size, you know? And it took, like, seven other men to help us bring it to the butchers, and—.”

Prompto kisses him. Noctis’ lips are as soft and lovely as he imagined it to be. When he breaks away, Noctis is smiling.

“What was _that_ for?”

Prompto shrugs. “You just looked cute.”

Noctis snorts and shoves him lightly. Prompto splashes him, and they start an impromptu splashing war for a few minutes, their laughter echoing. Noctis goes back up to the village before the sun becomes too low in the sky, and Prompto watches his fading silhouette before he sinks beneath the waves.

Loqi waits for him near the castle, all tense lines and protective fury. “I saw you,” his older brother says.

Prompto’s heart stops. He doesn’t even feel the school of fish that brush against his abdomen in response to his spike of anxiety. “Sorry, what?”

“Don’t play dumb with me,” Loqi snaps, gaze narrowed. “I _saw you_, Prompto—with the, with the human!”

“You were seeing this, I assure you,” Prompto says, far smoother than he truly feels.

Loqi’s expression thunders. “You _kissed him!” _

“I—how—were you spying on me?”

“So you don’t deny it?” Loqi says, triumphantly. “Father must be aware of this.”

Prompto’s never going to see Noctis again. “Loqi—_no!”_

But it’s too late. Loqi speeds around the corner, long tail propelling him forward, right into the throne room, and all but shrieks, “Prompto kissed a human!”

Why couldn’t Prompto be an only child? Honestly.

“Dear heart,” King Ardyn says once Prompto comes into view, already wincing from the lecture. Gladio looks ready to go to the surface and break Noctis in half. “Is this true?”

“. . . Perhaps,” says Prompto. He says nothing more.

King Ardyn frowns. “My child, you know you must not go near human territory—or have sordid affairs with them.”

Prompto would stomp his feet but, well, he doesn’t have any. He settles for a pout instead. “But he’s so nice, father.”

King Ardyn sighs.

He’s—to put it lightly—placed under strict watch. Gladio and Ignis trail after him whenever he leaves his nest, and it’s so _annoying_. He isn’t a guppy. He’s not some little fry who barely has control over his tailfins. But it stretches on and on for what feels like eons, and Prompto refuses to hide his depressed mood. The entire castle is well aware of the black cloud hovering above him.

He misses Noctis like a bleeding, festering wound.

But he finds the chance to slip away from the protective periphery of Ignis and Gladio, and it’s with an excited relief that he breaks the surface to find Noctis perched on the rock formation; soaking wet in a way that tells Prompto he swam out there.

“Noct!”

But something isn’t quite right. There are more bruises on Noctis’ skin, and a haggard expression clouding Noctis’ tired, tired eyes.

Noctis, whose looking at him with wide, terrified eyes. “I thought—I thought you forgot about m-me.”

“Never,” Prompto promises as he wraps his arms around Noctis. “But father got overprotective, and I only just got to escape the, um, guards.”

Noctis sniffles against his shoulder and mumbles,” You have guards?”

“Uh huh,” says Prompto. “I’m kind of important.”

Noctis giggles, but it fizzles out quickly. A sort of tense, stilted air floats down from the cliffside. It looks more ominous to Prompto than normal, and he’s quick to gently question Noctis on what happened since his unexpected disappearance.

Fear clouds Noctis’ expression. “A, um . . . a lot.”

Prompto makes a noise in the back of his throat. “How—like what?”

“Someone saw me with you,” Noctis whispers, hunching over a little, and Prompto’s stomach settles into uncomfortable knots. “And, um, well, the village . . . they didn’t like that.”

Prompto entwines their fingers together. “How bad is it? Please tell me? Did . . . did they kick you out of your home?”

Noctis swallows. “They want—they want me to be a sacrifice.”

Prompto only stares. “To _whom?”_

The shrug is miserable as Noctis folds his legs beneath his chin. Prompto hates seeing his best friend—his crush, really, even though _Mer and humans can’t be in love blah blah blah_—and he chews on his bottom lip. There’s a way for Noctis to escape the fate the adults have decided for him; it’s a secret that’s been in Prompto’s blood for generations.

“I can help you,” Prompto says quietly, as the sun fades in the distance. “But it’s going to hurt—and, and it won’t work if . . . if you don’t trust me.”

Noctis doesn’t look confused or upset. “I’ll always trust you.”

Prompto slides off his rock with ease and holds out a hand. “You’re going to have to come with me, then, Noct.”

There’s no hesitation in Noctis’ movements. He grabs hold of Prompto and slips into the sea. He wraps his arms around Prompto’s neck for safety, if only because they’re too far in for him to safely put his feet on the seafloor.

“Are you ready?”

Noctis meets his gaze. “Always.”

Prompto smiles against Noctis’ lips and pulls him down, down, down.

* * *

Noctis wakes with a shuddered gasp, shoulders trembling, but he isn’t alone. Prompto’s alert, hands petting his hair, nose pressed against his forehead. “It’s okay, it’s okay—you’re safe, you’re alive, you’re _here_.”

“I—wha’?”

Prompto smiles.

“Welcome home, Noct.” 

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this very, very quickly lol so it 's not as fleshed out and developed as it could be, but if you enjoyed it, leave a comment/kudos!


End file.
